Yellowstone at Roosevelt

Fifth Grade students at Roosevelt Elementary got to speak with a park ranger from Yellowstone National Park.  He touched on a great deal of topics for the kids and took the lesson wherever the students' interests lead making it very informative and engaging.

Some of the topics that were discussed and addressed were geothermal events in the parks, like hot springs, and geysers.  He explained that Steamboat is the geyser that can shoot water the highest but it is not as well known as others like Old Faithful, which at 50 feet below the surface has a temperature of over 400 degrees.  He also showed and discussed obsidian rocks and petrified wood.

The most interesting topics to the students were the fact that Yellowstone sits on a volcano, there are about 20 wildfires a year, and the bison is the most dangerous animal in the park.

It was a very informative experience!

Halloween in the Night Zoo

On October 17th, second grade students at Roosevelt Elementary Skyped with the Night Zookeeper all the way from the United Kingdom. The Night Zookeeper is a character based on a magical story about the adventures of a night zookeeper and the fantastic animals he meets on his nightly rounds. Students then went into the computer labs and designed their own Halloween animal that would live in the night zoo. What great imaginations they had. Next week they will continue on by writing their own Halloween stories about an evening in the Night Zoo!
https://www.nightzookeeper.com/

3rd Grade Digital Narratives

Third graders created their own digital narratives in a web tool called Little Bird Tales.  Students had to bring in three of their favorite things from home and then write about them.  They needed to tell about the item, where its kept, where they got it, and why it was important to them.  Students then took pictures with and of their items.  These pictures were uploaded to Little Bird Tales and students used their writing to narrate the digital story.  The results of the project are below:

Group 1

Group 2

Group 3

More on Little Bird Tales:  "Little Bird Tales was created to help nurture children's creativity and imagination while simultaneously creating one of-a-kind digital stories that can easily be shared. We strive to foster a love for reading, writing, self-expression and creative technology and to make the process easy and fun for students and teachers.

Little Bird Lessons has opened up new possibilities in the classroom, giving educators and students a truly interactive experience with options like listening to verbal instructions, voice recording/verbal response, drawing, importing images, and writing using a keyboard. With hundreds of ready-made lessons offered, teachers will have more time to focus on teaching.

We are dedicated to providing a safe web environment for children, free of advertising, merchandising and links to other sites and we are proud to support the environment by providing parents and teachers with "green" alternatives to how they collaborate, share and distribute stories and lessons."